Kris

Sorry to bring this back to the topic but my DZ (OSC) isn't that WASPy. It's more like the battle of the alamo when it comes to the staff: Pilot - Mexican Instructor - Mexican JM (me) - Mexican DZO - So white he glows. We really need to become Rodriguez Brothers... Kris (The Latino's are now here to keep The Man down.)

They're out there Pammi. At Quincy last year I went for a solo out of the CASA and just as I shut my canopy down on landing I saw a blue blur on the left and a red blur in front. Two amazing hot girls in freefly suits, the redhead under a double-digit Icarus VX and the blue-haired girl on some other elliptical. Now the blue girl came in smokin' but the redhead didn't shut her canopy down for at least 150 feet. It was an amazing swoop. I smiled, drooled a bit then went to go change my, now sticky, silk Mickey Mouse boxers. Kris Damn, I LOVE this sport!

OH YES! The beer shall indeed flow freely this weekend! Congrats you two! Kris

Thanks for the invite! I've been promising Brit that I would make it to her neck of the woods sometime. Maybe I can get some people together for a trip in July or something... Kris Only 40-ish more hours until SUSHI!

I know the feeling. I tweaked my back once and couldn't take a whiz for days because the doc said I shouldn't lift anything heavy. Kris (BA DUM DUM CHING! Thanks a lot folks, I'll be here through Wednesday. Try the fish!)

"Hush Yo' Mouf'" Kris ([whistling] Shaft, Can You Dig It?[/whistling])

Because last time that happened I think someone at Square1 sent Luigi's VX46 to a 265# AFF grad to demo. But at least the crater made a nice in-ground hot tub. Kris Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me...

What is it, a Nova? Kris Sorry, couldn't resist!

Umm, it could very well have been something like that. I'm not saying. Kris (putting on my innocent mask...)

No, my openings have been just the same but I do think there were some minor trim problems on my canopy to begin with. PD is sending me a Stiletto to demo and I'm going to send my canopy to them to check out since I'll still have the Stiletto to fly. But the openings haven't noticibly changed after the conversion. Kris

I am definitely hanging with the wrong peeps... Kris

Camping at Quincy = Too loud for me to sleep. Hotel = Just right! Well, there's that and the fact that I'm the last thing you want to see in the communal shower at sunrise... :) Kriszilla

Exactly, Spectre230. While I didn't like having that extra line on my Sabre 210 I didn't just yank it off, it is part of the tail section and does serve a purpose. Instead, I simply had a rigger cascade it into the main brake line and I haven't had a problem since and I now only have one brake line on each side to worry about when packing & stowing... Kris

Well, if the green light isn't on, you're not going anywhere. The S&TA may think he's God but he has nothing on the Pilot In Command (PIC). Look in the incident reports, people with thousands of jumps still screw up just like us low-timers do. You are responsible for your own safety. I have only about a hundred jumps but I have gotten into a screaming match with more experienced jumpers about whether I was taking the spot offered or not. On that jump, I was right. I had checked the winds report before going up and it had just changed, majorly. I told them and they blew me off. Was I right, yes. Did I land on the airport with my new spot, yes. Then, last weekend, I completely hosed Pam, Merrick, myself and another jumper because I didn't anticipate how long our climb-out was going to be. Was I right, hell no. Did I learn from it, hell yes. We all have to make personal decisions when it comes to the safety of ourselves and the friends we jump with, and what it boils down to is that you just have to look inwards at your experience, knowledge and personal level of common sense. Don't be afraid to raise hell but don't be too cocky to listen to another's perspective. Kris

My home DZ is only a little Cessna DZ but we have this pilot named Kevin who started flying for us last summer. With all of our other pilots it was always, "Left 20, Right 10, damnit! Another go-around!" But with Kevin it's just a look out the door to see where we're at then the cut. He truly understands what a jump-run is. Kris

Brit is very good people. Just last fall she was working on her AFF and now she has over 250 jumps. She sent me the link to her skysurfing pictures and all I could do was smile, she's a true natural. Here's one of my better stories about her: Last October, we decide to take this perpetually happy and kind of strange girl named Brit on her first sit-attempt. It was me, Larry Chandler, Kevin Oaks and Miss Brit out of the 182. We put Larry at the edge of the step, then Brit, me and Kevin has my rig in grips from behind. I figured we'd put Brit in between Larry and Me as Larry is a stable base and I can grab Brit and hold her stable to get used to the feeling. Well, Like Pam and Merrick learned from our jump last weekend, the plan is one thing, the actual dive can be another beast entirely... Larry climbed out to the edge, Brit climbed out and took grips on the back of Larry's rig and just as I'm reaching for Brittany I see Larry's hand slip from the strut and then they're gone. I immediately dived after them, hoping to catch Brit before she inevitably corked since it was her first sit-train. That didn't happen. I watched her throw Larry between her legs and she locked her feet under his armpits (ewww), then she threw her arms out like a bird-of-prey. They had a 2-way train that was locked, stocked and ready to rock. I was so surprised and amazed I actually stopped in mid-dive and just grinned like a fool. She has really taken to this sport we love like a fish to water and Brit, if you're reading this, you are one bad girly. And Airann, if you see Brit before she reads this, the next time you talk to her, end all of your sentances with "Rockin!". Muahaha! She'll get the joke. I really hate to inflate her ego, especially with her new pink hair, but I think our next up-n'-comer is going to be Pammi. You're catching on to things really quickly now and you're doing a lot better than you think you are. Enjoy it! Kriszilla

Okay, this brings me back to my idea for CCRW, also known as Combat Canopy Relative Work. Here's the plan, raid a Wal-Mart or K-Mart for some smallish paintball guns and some water-soluble paintballs. Stuff gun down front of jumpsuit and have everyone do hop n' pop's from full altitude. Once under canopy, break it down Red-Baron style. Who's with me? Kriszilla (Hmmm, I wonder if they have this model in a fully-automatic version...)

Better watch out, Tony and Mike confiscated Joe's logbook and didn't sign him off of student status until the beer for his graduation jump showed up. Now that I think about it Pammi, that was yours and Merrick's first 4-way freefly, wasn't it? Hmmm, that was also your first landing next to the runway, first long climb-out and first time getting your butt slapped while I was trying to coax you further out onto the step... Good thing that we only count one "first" per jump... Kriszilla Oh, you and Merrick can make that a case of Fat Tire or Flying Dog for the beer, please. ;->

BWAHAHAHA, that was definitely, "The Load That God Forgot"! That was also my first almost-downwind landing. Another 20-degrees and it would have been a full down-winder. I still can't believe I almost pulled the landing off... As for the exit part of that skydive, remind me to start our climb-out 5-minutes earlier next time to allow Merrick & Charlie time to finish fighting for position before climbing-out. As for the shake on exit, if I would have shaken you any harder, you would have been a martini, I was actually laughing my ass off in freefall until I noticed houses below me, wait, there aren't any full-on housing areas near the DZ... SHIT! Check for clear air! Dump! Whew, there's the airport. I also forgot just how confident and proficient Merrick has been getting, I didn't expect to see him when I got under canopy just above 2-grand. We said hi, looked at the fine-print on each-other's jumpsuits and then turned the hell away from each other. ;> Your Lazy-boy was looking pretty good though, you're not at all far from a full-on sit, Pam. Until then... Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel. Kriszilla

Okay, since I just made a new CD to listen to for the weekend, here is what I put on it: Deftones - Change Björk - Violently Happy Poe - Hey Pretty (remix w/ Mark Danielewski) Tribe Called Quest - Scenario David Bowie - China Girl Beatles - As My Guitar Gently Weeps Rollins Band - Liar Incubus - Drive Tori Amos - Raspberry Swirl Delerium with Sarah McLachlan - Silence Cure - High Depeche Mode - Behind the Wheel Animotion - Obsession Alanis Morissette - Still Garbage - I Think I'm Crystalized (Paranoid Remix) Godsmack - Awake Morrissey - How Soon Is Now I have very eclectic tastes and I listen to just about anything but polka. I usually like listening to angst-ridden women like Liz Phair, Poe, Juliana Hatfield, Björk and The Sneaker Pimps and I'm a complete nutjob for 80's music. Kris (Loving my 21GB of MP3's...)

Duck & cover, Mike! I think I see your wife coming... Bwahaha! Kris

Vet's Office A guy took his dog to the veterinary clinic, and laid its limp body on the table. The doctor pulled out his stethoscope, listened to the dog's chest for a moment, then shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, but your dog has passed away." "What?" the guy screamed. "You haven't even done any tests! I want another opinion." The vet left the room and returned in a few moments with a Labrador Retriever. The Retriever sniffed the dog on the table carefully from head to toe. Finally, the Retriever shook it's head and barked once (meaning "dead and gone"). The vet took the Labrador away and returned a few minutes later with a cat, which also sniffed carefully over the dog on the table before shaking its head and saying, "Meow" (meaning "he's gone"). After the cat jumped off the table, the vet handed Glenn a bill for $600. The man shook the bill at the vet. "$600!!!! Just to tell me my dog is dead?!!! That's outrageous!" The vet explained. "If you had taken my word for it, the charge would have been $50, but with the Lab work and the cat scan...." Kris

I knew there was a reason I really liked you. As for the video, I have a perfect 60MB copy on my PC recorded in DivX ;-) format. It does make for some one-handed typing at times, especially when I throw Liz Phair, Björk and Garbage videos into the playlist... Kriszilla the Ambidextrious

Yikes, two anonymous posts. I've got to make sure I remember to login in the future. :) As for the HALO multi-dive Pammi, it's called jumping Mike Mullin's King Air at Quincy when he does his daily loads to 23K during the convention. Kris

Merrick, So far I haven't had any problems with my Sabre 210 in the 70-ish jumps since I had it converted to one brake line on each side. If you decide to go that route, just make sure Mike or Tony is the one who does it. The original rigger who did mine got the trim wrong and it is really amazing how well my canopy flies after having the conversion correctly done. Catch me next time I am packing and I will show you how I have mine cascaded. Kris